Understanding
by professionaldooropener
Summary: He loved painting her when she wasn’t watching. He loved the rush of working as fast as he could to capture the emotions on her face, there were always so many OOC SaiSaku Saikura slightly fluffy ONESHOT


**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

**Rating: K+ for brief suggestive humor **

**Pairing: SaiSaku or as I shall now call it Saikura**

**Words: 1,538**

Understanding

He loved painting her when she wasn't watching. He loved the rush of working as fast as he could to capture the emotions on her face, there were always so many. When he was done he would take them home and lay them out side-by-side and study them. That's how he learned emotion. Even if he couldn't show them, now he understood them, at least a little bit.

The night he truly understood emotions, he had been following her, masking his chakra, when she had sat down on a bench near the edge of Konoha. Hopping silently into a tree he opened his sketch pad and drew her crying face.

When he got home and took out the different drawings, he found that there was a sharp pain in his chest when he looked at them. Those were his only drawings he ever destroyed, and he vowed to never let her cry again, he didn't like feeling that pain.

Maybe in that instance he was weak, he had never known the pain of others, since what had happened with his brother… he had shut everything out. But this had broken through him, and he didn't like it.

Perhaps it was when he first saw her cry that he came up with her nickname, Ugly. It wasn't because of her physical appearance at all, it was because of how she looked crying, of how it made him feel when she was crying. It didn't hurt that he loved how her eyes sparkled when she was angry.

The one memory her that truly stuck out to him though, was the first time she hugged him. He had just gotten back from what was only supposed to be a week long mission, but it had turned into a month long one.

He had been shocked to see her pink hair from a distance, probably talking to Izumo and Kotetsu. When he got closer he saw that she was sitting quietly on a bench, her hands folded neatly on her lap looking straight ahead, eyes glazed over.

When he got close enough he considered walking past her, but decided against it. "Oi, Ugly-" he was cut off suddenly because of pink hair in his mouth.

Her arms were wrapped tightly around him, encompassing him in unfamiliar warmth. It was new and different, but it was so nice that he allowed himself to sag against her for a moment, allowing all of his tiredness to catch up to him. "You're back!" she whispered softly into the skin of his neck.

Pulling away from him, she smiled brightly, "Welcome back, Sai." That shocked him too, usually she added –san onto the end of his name, but today she didn't.

And she never did again afterwards either.

After she had hugged him, his incredibly fatigued body collapsed, and though his mind was racing, his body could not keep up.

He learned later that Sakura had been the one to carry him to the hospital and treat him. When he woke up the next day, he had never felt better.

It wasn't until a few months later when Naruto accidentally him that Sakura had been there everyday, all day waiting for him to come back after two weeks had passed. Tsunade had given her time off from working at the hospital to do so.

"She doesn't hate you, you know?" Naruto had told him wisely, slurping up the rest of his ramen. "She never has, she resented you for awhile in the beginning, but we all did. You're part of the team now, you're one of us, we all care and look out for each other, you know?"

It was the first time that Sai ever felt like he truly belonged somewhere.

Though at a glance it would seem like nothing had changed between them, there were slight differences. Sakura would only half-heartedly become angry with Sai when he insulted her, and they would argue less. She only tried to him playfully, like she would do with Naruto, and her smiles towards him became brighter.

Also he started drawing her, and he came to know every contour oh her body, every line and shape. He wasn't a stalker, no. He was an artist, and artist always look more at what they draw, then the drawing itself.

Then his heart started feeling lighter whenever he saw her. His stomach would feel like bursting, and his palms would sweat. Sometimes when he was drawing her, without realizing it, he would stop drawing and just look at her, drinking her in.

All of a sudden people were friendlier to him, going out of their way to talk to him. But it seemed most people asked him about Sakura, they wanted to know how she was doing, and what she was up too. When people started asking him personal questions about her he became angry for the first time I told them to ask her themselves.

It seemed as though people knew something about him that he didn't. He didn't like the feeling either.

A voice in his head told him that he should go see Sakura at the hospital, and he listened. Once he got there one of the nurses told him that she had already left. The nurse smiled kindly at him and told him that Sakura had looked a little upset.

Instantly Sai knew where she had gone.

Quickly jumping from tree to tree, Sai stood in the tree above the bench. Sakura was there, laying down on it. Her eyes were closed, but moonlight glinted off of her face, giving away her wet cheeks. She had been crying again.

Abandoning every principal he had about not getting close to people, Sai jumped from his tree, into a kneeling position in front of Sakura. "Sakura," his voice sounded strange, covered in pain. Before he knew what he was doing, his arms were wrapped around her; tightly.

"Wh-why did he h-have t-to leave me!" Sakura wailed into his chest, burying herself into his arms. "I would have given him anything!"

Sai's dark eyes flashed at the mention of The Traitor. He would never forgive that bastard for what he'd done to Konoha: to Sakura. Instead of vocalizing his thoughts he held her tighter.

When her crying stopped, Sai pushed her away slightly to look into her eyes. They were red and puffy from crying; he hated the sight. "Sakura," his words were slow, and pronounced, "you won't cry over him again, he's not worth it. He's not worthy of the love of this village, or the love of you."

He brought her closer again. "Tonight you will cry. Cry as long and as hard as you want. Throw things, scream. It doesn't matter, get it out of you." He smirked over her shoulder, "After all, you don't even love him anymore."

"W-what?" Sakura was stunned. "I do love him, I always have."

"Maybe you did once upon a time, but not now, not anymore."

Sakura melted into Sai, "You're right," she muttered into his shoulder. "You're absolutely right. I don't even know him anymore, I don't think I ever did."

"Just cry now Sakura."

And so she did.

Sai carried her home that night. When they reached her doorstep, as he turned away she grabbed his hand, her voice still thick with tears, "Please don't leave right now. I'm weak… I hate this!"

"You're not weak." Was all he said, but he stepped inside her house anyway.

The next morning, the two walked out together, causing many suspicions and rumors to arise.

Sakura's eyes were still red, but she was smiling happily at something Sai had said. She wouldn't be crying anytime soon. And when she did, it wouldn't be about **him**.

When he deposited Sakura at the hospital doors he made up his mind. "Sakura, wait." She paused in the middle of the automatic glass doors, looking back at him.

He held out his hand to her, showing her his empty palm, "When you're ready." After that he shoved his hand back into his pocket and walked away, a small smile set on his lips. He was really getting these emotion things.

Maybe they weren't as bad as he thought after all.

3 MONTHS LATER

Sai was standing outside of Sakura's favorite odango shop waiting for the pink haired girl in question, his hands hanging loosely by his sides.

After that encounter three months ago, the two had been seen together a lot more often. Sai no longer called Sakura ugly, seeing as she was the closet friend (yes he called all of them friends now) he had.

"Sai!" Sakura waved in greeting, trotting over to him, a smile lit on her face. "You know what?"

Sai raised an eyebrow, "What?"

"I'm ready." Sakura firmly placed her hand in his, her decision made.

Stunned only for a moment, Sai smiled his real smile, the one he saved just for her. "Good." His mouth pressed briefly to hers before pulling away. "I'm hungry, let's eat." Their fingers entwined as he pulled her into the small shop.

Briefly the thought crossed Sai's mind that maybe she would pose naked for him, clothes just didn't do her beauty justice.

End.

**So the end. My first one-shot in a while, but I like it. And I hope you do to.**

**So please review!**


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